I’ve moved to TylerStubenhofer.com

Mostly everything on this website (stubenhofer.blogspot.com) is now on my new site, TylerStubenhofer.com, as well as more new stuff.

This site is hereby abandoned by decree of me.

The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerlein

(Note: this is an assignment for a Master's course at K-State, EDCI 887: Professional Seminar I, taught by Dr. Rosemary Talab)

Assignment Description
Write a book report over one of the following books (there was a list).

Assignment
I chose The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future by Mark Bauerlein.

1. Here is my book report (pdf).

2. And here is a rant I wrote after writing my book report:

Imagine you are a kid.

Now imagine being told you are dumb. Over and over. And having research studies shoved in your face which all say the same thing.

Imagine being told you're ruining the "American heritage" and that you and your friends are going to have a hard time not screwing everything up.

Because you're so dumb.

Now imagine someone told you to write a book report over this experience :)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't like being called "dumb." And I don't like calling other people "dumb." Even if I knew a decent definition for what it means to be "dumb" or "stupid," I would never use those words. It would say nothing about the person to whom I'm referring as "dumb" or "stupid" or "thick-headed" or "retarded," but it would say a lot about me. I object to the author's usage of the word "dumbest" in the title of his book, I object to his negative attitude about where the world is headed simply because today's kids score lower on multiple-choice tests, and I object to the fact that he wrote this book just above my reading level so I had to realize how dumb I am WHILE READING ABOUT HOW DUMB I AM.

(Sigh) Ok, I feel better now.

Teaching and Learning: Three (3) Theories

(Note: this is an assignment for a Master's course at K-State, EDCI 887: Professional Seminar I, taught by Dr. Rosemary Talab.)

Assignment Description
Choose three learning theories from the TIP database and relate them to distance education.

Assignment
I chose these three theories:

1. Elaboration, by Reigeluth
2. Multiple Intelligences, by the constant Gardner
3. Social Learning, by Bandura

Here's my entire paper (pdf).

Why Distance Education?

(Note: this is an assignment for a Master's course at K-State, EDCI 887: Professional Seminar I, taught by Dr. Rosemary Talab)

Assignment Description
Write a synopsis of a point of view on why or why not schools, universities, countries, etc., do or do not need distance education, based on your readings, personal experiences, your article, listed resources or resources of your own.

Assignment
Available here (pdf, ~800 words).

My Personal Learning Network

(Note: this assignment is for my Master’s course at K-State, EDCI 718: Learning Technologies, taught by Dr. Rosemary Talab)

Assignment Description
Describe your Personal Learning Network (PLN).

Assignment
I've been an iGoogle user for a while. I feel it makes a great homepage for some good ol' fashioned web browsing, just like our grandfolks used to do.

My iGoogle page looks like this:

My iGoogle page. Click to enlarge.

My Google Reader, which I've now set up as a widget on my iGoogle page, is here.

My Google Reader includes some blogs I enjoy visiting, such as Presentation Zen, Mammoth Media, Dan Meyer's education blog, photographer Terry Richardson's tumblr, and a few others (including mine, which is sort of like high-fiving myself I do realize).

OH and also I just incorporated a couple Distance Education blogs into my Google Reader. They are About.com Distance Learning (sounds duhhh boring but is actually pretty good) and Mike Simmons's aptly named e-Learning and Distance Education Blog. I'm new to both of them but will probably spend way too much time at both of them in the near future.

Quote: Andy Rooney on Computers

Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.
--
Andy Rooney

(source: QuotationsPage)

Seth Godin: "Embracing the Upcycle..."

Customer service falls apart when mutual escalation or non-understanding sets in. Management falls apart when power struggles or miscommunication escalate. Education falls apart when students respond to negative tracking by giving up.
--
Seth Godin, Embracing the Upcycle Instead of the Downcycle

Human-Computer Interaction

Note: this is an assignment for a Master's course at K-State, EDCI 887: Professional Seminar I, taught by Dr. Rosemary Talab.

Assignment Description
Give a short presentation on a virtual world or emerging technology.

Assignment
I did some looking into the human-computer interaction world - pretty darned cool stuff - and made this slide show.

The full-screen option is in the "Menu."

Human-Computer Interaction

View more presentations from Tyler Stubenhofer.

"It's All Talk"

[The big thinkers who spoke] were inspiring, thoughtful, forward-thinking, and presented a challenging but realistic vision of where we should be taking education. And nothing changed as a result.
--
Tim Stahmer

(source: Tim's AssortedStuff blog)

"Don't Wait for Superman" by Ben Allen

[Waiting for Superman] promotes an absurdly simplistic view of teaching, in which teachers are either good or bad. As soon as we fire the bad ones, we will have only good teachers and top-quality education. This ignores the reality for the vast majority of teachers who are trying but struggling. These teachers are performing one of the the most important and difficult jobs in the country. They need to be supported, and their jobs made more manageable, in order for them to succeed.
--
Ben Allen

Mr. Allen, a "postdoctoral research fellow at the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University" who studies "evolutionary game theory and other topics in evolution and complex systems," gives a thoughtful, critical review of the documentary film Waiting for Superman in this blog post.